One person dead, one injured after car versus semi crash

Saturday, one person is dead and another injured after a car accident in northeast Columbia.

Emergency crews responded to a crash on Route B near Waco Road around 12:15 p.m. Columbia police said 24-year-old John Severtsen, a passenger in the car, was pronounced dead on the scene and another person was taken to the hospital.

Police said the driver of the car Severtsen was in did not notice that a semi with a trailer in front if them was slowing down to make a turn.

The car then slammed into the back of the semi.

“What we’re getting from witnesses is the truck was turning right into the driveway,” John Dye with the Columbia Police Department said. “The car didn’t even break and went under the back end of it.”

Police shut down the northbound lanes of Route B from Highway 63 for about an hour and a half.

The CPD Traffic Investigation Unit and medical examiner are still investigating.

Toxicology reports are pending to determine whether drugs for alcohol may have been a factor.